The journey to living by design.

Silence

Imagine me at six years old, sitting at my desk with my fingers in my ears. The students chatter around me as I immerse myself in a story-book. The school called my mom because the teacher observed me doing this several times when the classroom was noisy. My mom explained that I just needed a little quiet time.

When is my day silent? Not often. Not often enough.

Being a teacher is a noisy business. Teenagers are generally loud and they love to talk constantly. I spend as much time listening as I do talking in my classroom. Add to that bells and noisy halls and I often go to bed noting that my ears are ringing.

How can I create silence? Sometimes I use sound-cancelling headphones to block out the buzz of the day. Nothing is playing through them; just blissful quiet. I don’t do this often enough.

I’m also making an effort to make my home more of a sanctuary. When I get home Nick is still at work. I turn off all the electronics in the house and put my phone on silent. Mostly, I read or putter around the house. Probably what I should do is use that time to meditate or contemplate quietly. That would certainly introduce more peace in my life.

So now I’m looking for more suggestions. Leave me a comment telling me how you introduce silence in your life.